Swing spout faucet



y 8, 1968 R. H. WOLF ETAL 3,385,324

SWING SPOUT FAUCE'I Filed April 15, 1966 INVENTORS. E/CHflQD A. WOLF, KATA/E h. WOLF;

United States Patent 3,385,324- SWING SPOUT FAUCET Richard H, Wolf and Kathe H. Wolf, both of 101 Sheifield Ave., Longmeadow, Mass. 191106 Filed Apr. 15, 1966, Ser. No. 542,824 7 Qlaims. (Ci. 137-636A) This invention relates to improvements in swing spout combination faucets adapted to be employed in connection with hot and cold water lines, and more particularly to an improved swing spout faucet assembly having a spout element which is employed to adjust the proportion of hot and cold water passing therethrough in accordance with the angular position of said spout element.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved swing spout assembly which is relatively simple in construction, which is easy to operate, which involves a minimum number of movable parts, and which enables the temperature of the liquid discharged therefrom to be easily and accurately adjusted.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved swing spout assembly adapted to be connected to hot and cold water supply lines and arranged to enable the user to select the temperature of the water discharging therefrom in a simple and efficient manner, the assembly being relatively inexpensive to manufacture, being durable in construction, being provided with means for attaching a spray head thereto, if so desired, and being further provided with means to regulate the rate of discharge of water therefrom, as well as to predetermine the temperature of the water discharged.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view taken through an improved swing spout assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of FIGURE 1, but showing various positions of the rotary water-mixing sleeve employed in the assembly.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary elevational view taken substantially on the line 66 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly in vertical cross-section, of a modified form of swing spout faucet assembly according to the present invention.

Referring to the drawing, 11 generally designates an improved swing spout faucet assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention. The assembly 11 comprises a main housing 12 which includes a bottom water intake chamber 13 and a pair of water-inlet conduits 14 and 15 integrally-formed therewith and located at opposite sides of the bottom intake chamber 13, as is clearly shown in FIGURE 1. Thus, a hot Water supply line may be connected by suitable conduit fitting means to the externally-threaded intake conduit 14, and similarly, a cold water supply line may be connected by suitable conduit fittings to the eXternaliy-threaded intake conduit 15. The respective conduits 14 and 15 are provided at their inner end portions with vertical passages or slots 16 and 17 which are located diametrically-opposite each other and which open into the cylindrical chamber 13.

The housing 12 is provided with the externally-threaded generally cylindrical top end portion 18 and is formed with a shoulder or abutment 19 subjacent the external threads thereof, said abutment 19 being integrally formed 'ice with a spout portion 20 which is internally-threaded to receive a conventional conduit fitting leading to a spray head attachment. In the absence of the spray head attachment, a conventional plug 21 is threaded into the spout portion 20, as shown in FIGURE 1. Obviously, when it is desired to use such a spray head attachment, the plug 21 may be unscrewed and the spray head connector may be threadedly-engaged in the spout portion 20 in place of said plug 21.

A fastening nut 22 is employed to secure the top end portion of housing 12 to a suitable support, such as the top wall 23 of a sink, said top Wall being provided with an aperture 24- through which the threaded portion 18 of housing 12 extends, the nut 22 serving to clamp the wall 23 between the abutment shoulder 19 and the nut 22.

The upper portion of housing 12 is formed with the cylindrical inside bore 26 which is reduced at its lower portion to define the annular shoulder 27 and the generally cylindrical relatively short bottom space 28. A main sleeve 29 is positioned in the bore 26, being clamped onto the shoulder 27 by a ring nut 30 which receives the top end of the sleeve 29 and is threadedly-engaged on the top portion 18 of housing 12, as is clearly shown in FIG- URE 1. The sleeve 29 is annularly-grooved at 31 to define a water passage leading to the spout portion 20. A resiliently-deformable sealing ring 33 is seated in a suitable annular groove provided therefor in the upper portion of the sleeve member 29, sealing the sleeve portion with respect to the bore 26.

Designated at 35 is a stem member provided with square threads 36 which threadedly-engage correspondingly-shaped thread grooves formed in the inside bore of sleeve member 29, the stem 35 being provided with a rigid bottom flange 38, said bottom flange being further provided on its top and bottom surfaces with fiat annular resiliently-deformable sealing rings 39 and 40 which are respectively engageable sealingly with the bottom rim of sleeve 29 and the annular bottom wall 41 of space 28. Stem 35 is integrally-formed with a depending cylindrical sleeve portion 42 which is slidably and substantially-sealingly engaged with the inside surface of the bottom chamber 13. The sleeve portion 42 is formed with a pair of diametrically-opposed slots 43 and 44 which are located so as to be respectively registrable with the hot and cold water supply apertures 16 and 17, with various degrees of registration or non-registration, as shown in FIGURE 5, presently to be explained. Sleeve member 42 is closed at its top end, but is formed with a plurality of additional horizontal slots 46 located subjacent the sealing ring 40 and communicating with space 28.

The top portion of stem 35 is hollow, being provided with a vertical bore 50, the wall of the hollow stem being provided at its bottom portion, namely, immediately above the sealing ring 39, with a plurality of slots or apertures 51 normally communicating with the lower end of the interior space defined by bore 26, but being in communication with space 28 when the stem is lowered from the position thereof shown in FIGURE 1. A resiliently-deformable annular sealing ring 52 is seated in a suitable annular groove provided therefor in the stem 35 above the square threads 36 thereof, as shown in FIGURE 1, sealing the stem with respect to the main sleeve 29.

Designated at 54 is a generally horizontally-extending swing spout provided with the water passage 55, said passage communicating with the cylindrical main bore 56 of the spout. The spout 54 is mounted on the top end of the hollow stem 35, but splined thereto at 57, and being rigidly held on the top end of the stem 35 by a nut member 58 which is threadedly-engaged on the top end of the stem and which is annularly-grooved at 59 to provide a water-flow passage communicating with the bore 55 of the swing spout 54. Rotatably and sealingly-mounted in the generally annular nut 58 is a downwardly-facing cylindrical cup 60 formed with a vertical slot 61 which registers with an aperture 62 provided in the nut member 58 and which communicates with the space defined by groove 59. The cup member 69 is rigidly-secured to the bottom end of a short vertical shaft 63 which is rotatably and centrally-mounted in the nut member 58, being sealed relative thereto by the provision of a resilientlydeformable sealing ring 65 mounted in an annular groove formed in its intermediate portion, as shown in FIG- URE 1. Rigidly-secured to the top end of the shaft member 63 is a knob member 66 which is locked on the shaft 63, as by being splined thereto and secured by a retaining screw 67, as shown in FIGURE 1. The knob member 66 is employed to rotate the cup 60 so as to vary the degree of registration of the slot 61 with the aperture 62, whereby to accordingly regulate the rate of fiow of liquid into the spout 54, which accordingly regulates the rate of discharge of liquid through the faucet assembly.

The top end of the main sleeve 29 is formed with an outwardly-projecting lug 70 which is received in a positioning notch 71 formed in the top rim of sleeve portion 18, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, so that the cap nut 30 holds the lug '70 seated in the notch 71 and thereby prevents rotation of sleeve 29 with respect to main housing 12.

In operation, hot and cold water is admitted through the conduits 14 and 15, the water being admitted to the interior of sleeve portion 42 depending upon the degree of registration of the slots 43 and 44 with the fixed vertical slots 16 and 17. FIGURE 5 shows various different positions of the sleeve member 42 with respect to the supply shots 16 and 17, these positions being obtained by swinging the spout 54. Thus, in the position at the left end of FIGURE 5, the slots 43 and 44 are completely out of registry with the supply slots 16 and 17 and the faucet is closed. In the second position of sleeve member 42 shown in FIGURE 5, slot 43 is in registry with passage 16, but slot 44 is not in registry with passage 17. Therefore, only hot water will flow through the faucet assembly through the spout 54. In the third position of FIGURE 5, both of the slots 43 and 44 are in registry with their associated water-supply passages, and a mixture of hot and cold water is provided, the proportion depending upon the respective degrees of registration of the slots 43 and 44 with the supply apertures 16 and 17. In the fourth position shown in FIGURE 5, slot 43 is no longer in registry with passage 16, but slot 44 remains in registry with the cold water-admission passage 17. Therefore, only cold water flows through the faucet assembly to the spout 54.

In the final position of spout 54, shown at the right end of FIGURE 5, both of the passages 43 and 44 are out of registry with their respective water supply slots 16 and 17, and the faucet assembly is again closed, this time at the cold side of its swing.

When the spout 54 is rotated from the closed position thereof shown in FIGURE 1, the threads 36 on the stem cooperate with the internal threads of the main sleeve 29 to move the stem 35 downwardly, whereby to disengage the sealing gasket ring 39 from the bottom ring of main sleeve 29. This establishes communication between the space 28 and the space defined by the groove 31, as well as with the interior bore of stem 35 through the passages 51. The water fiows upwardly through the bore 50 and through the slot 61 and cup member and passage 62 into the space 56, and thence flows through the discharge spout 54. The rate of flow is determined by the setting of the cup member 60, namely, by the degree of registry of the vertical slot 61 with the aperure 62 in nut member 58. At one end of its swing, the spout member 54 elevates the sealing ring 39 into sealing contact with the bottom rim of the main sleeve 29, which cstablishes the position of the parts illustrated in FIGURE 1. At the opposite end of its swing the .lower sealing ring 40 comes into sealing engagement with the bottom wall 41 of space 23. Between these two limits of movement, the conditions will be in accordance with the various positions of the parts shown in FIGURE 5, namely, there will be a range of conditions from complete closure at either end to a selected proportion of hot and cold water mixture, as above-described. When the spout is rotated from the hot side closure position thereof shown at the left end of FIGURE 5, it first establishes full registration between the bot water-supply passage 16 and the slot 43, so that only hot water flows through the ftucet assembly. With continued swing, a desired percentage of cold water may be added and the degree of registration of the hot water aperture 43 with the hot water-supply aperture 16 will be reduced. Eventually, as the swing continues, only cold water will be supplied since passage 43 moves away from registry with passage 16 while passage 44 remains in registry with passage 17. Eventually, full closure again occurs with the spout 54 swung to the cold side of its swing, as above-described.

In the modification illustrated in FIGURE 7, the main housing shown at 12, has a cylindrical bore 26' which is uniform in diameter and terminates at the bottom wall 41, located below bottom sealing ring 40. The main sleeve shown at 29', is formed in its bottom flange with an annular groove 36 in which is seated a resilient deformable sealing ring 33' which makes sliding and sealing contact with the surface of bore 26'. The top end of sleeve 29' is provided with an outwardly-projecting flange or lip 70' which is clarnpingly-received between ring nut 36 and the top rim of sleeve 29. As in the previously-described form of the invention, when the spout is in an intermediate position, water can enter the vertical bore in the upper portion of stem 35 through the slots or apertures 51 after leaving the mixing chamber 28 While specific embodiments of an improved swing spout faucet assembly have been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a valve structure, a generally cylindrical housing having at one end a liquid-supply chamber of reduced diameter communicating substantially concentrically therewith, liquid-supply conduits connected to said supply chamber, a valve seat at the juncture of said chamber with said housing, a hollow sleeve secured substantially concentrically in said housing, the lower end of said sleeve being spaced from said valve seat to provide a mixing chamber between said seat and the sleeve end, a hollow stem mounted for rcciprocatory movement concentrically in the sleeve and having its top end projecting beyond the housing, mating threads on the stem and the sleeve, an annular head on the lower end of the stem disposed within said mixing chamber and having its periphery spaced from the inner sidewall of the chamber, said head being adapted to seat against the adjacent sleeve end when the stem is moved to its limit in one direction and against the valve seat when moved to its limit in the opposite direction, a depending sleeve valve element coaxiallysecured to the lower end of the stem and being sealingly and rotatably-received in said liquid-supply chamber, said valve element being apertured to at times establish communication between the supply conduits and the mixing chamber, a swing spout lockingly-engaged over the top end of the stem, said spout being formed with a recess extending around the top end of the stem, nut means substantially sealingly-received in said recess and threadedlyengaged on the top end of the stem, said nut means being recessed to define a space communicating with the swing spout and being provided with an aperture connecting said last-named space with the interior of the nut means, whereby to connect said last-named space with the internal bore of the stem, and rotary valve means in the nut means adjacent said aperture and being adjustable to regulate flow through said aperture.

2. The valve structure of claim 1, and wherein said rotary valve means comprises an inverted cup member sealingly and rotatably-mounted in the nut means and having a slot registrable with the aperture in the nut means.

'3. The valve structure of claim 2, and a shaft element axially-secured to said cup member and extending c0- axially through the top portion of the nut means.

4. The valve structure of claim 3, and an operating knob secured on the top end of said shaft element.

5. The valve structure of claim 4, and wherein said nut means comprises an annular body having an enlarged top portion clampingly-engaged on the swing spout and having an internally-threaded lower end portion threadedly-engaged on the top end of the stem.

*6. The valve structure of claim 5, and wherein the inverted cup member is substantially cylindrical in shape and the annular nut body has a relatively large lower.

bore portion rotatably-receiving said inverted cup member, and has a relatively small upper bore portion sealingly and rotatably-receiving said shaft element.

7. The valve structure of claim 6, and wherein the hollow sleeve is externally-recessed to define a liquidflow space between the sleeve and the sidewall of the housing in communication with said mixing chamber, and sprinkler conduit connection means on the housing communicating with said liquid-flow space.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,839,081 6/1958 Wolf 137637.4 2,847,031 8/1958 'BroWn 137-637.4

CLARENCE R. GORDON, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A VALVE STRUCTURE, A GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL HOUSING HAVING AT ONE END A LIQUID-SUPPLY CHAMBER OF REDUCED DIAMETER COMMUNICATING SUBSTANTIALLY CONCENTRICALLY THEREWITH, LIQUID-SUPPLY CONDUITS CONNECTED TO SAID SUPPLY CHAMBER, A VALVE SEAT AT THE JUNCTURE OF SAID CHAMBER WITH SAID HOUSING, A HOLLOW SLEEVE SECURED SUBSTANTIALLY CONCENTRICALLY IN SAID HOUSING, THE LOWER END OF SAID SLEEVE BEING SPACED FROM SAID VALVE SEAT TO PROVIDE A MIXING CHAMBER BETWEEN SAID SEAT AND THE SLEEVE END, A HOLLOW STEM MOUNTED FOR RECIPROCATORY MOVEMENT CONCENTRICALLY IN THE SLEEVE AND HAVING ITS TOP END PROJECTING BEYOND THE HOUSING, MATING THREADS ON THE STEM AND THE SLEEVE, AN ANNULAR HEAD ON THE LOWER END OF THE STEM DISPOSED WITHIN SAID MIXING CHAMBER AND HAVING ITS PERIPHERY SPACED FROM THE INNER SIDEWALL OF THE CHAMBER, SAID HEAD BEING ADAPTED TO SEAT AGAINST THE ADJACENT SLEEVE END WHEN THE STEM IS MOVED TO ITS LIMIT IN ONE DIRECTION AND AGAINST THE VALVE SEAT WHEN MOVED TO ITS LIMIT IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, A DEPENDING SLEEVE VALVE ELEMENT COAXIALLYSECURED TO THE LOWER END OF THE STEM AND BEING SEALINGLY AND ROTATABLY-RECEIVED IN SAID LIQUID-SUPPLY CHAMBER, SAID 